Chicago White Sox... The thread.

[Crazy Balki]

Not sure what to think of this.

I hate losing Nicky. That dude was automatic on the paths but coming off another major injury and his defense being less than I had hoped, I think it's an acceptable loss.

Meanwhile for this year, HOLY SH*T. The pen went from barely staying afloat to a 3-man wrecking crew with Kopech and Hendriks to go with Kimbrel.

Good luck scoring on the White Sox any day the top 3 aren't on the mound.

 

[Wild Bill]

Not sure what to think of this.

I hate losing Nicky. That dude was automatic on the paths but coming off another major injury and his defense being less than I had hoped, I think it's an acceptable loss.

Meanwhile for this year, HOLY SH*T. The pen went from barely staying afloat to a 3-man wrecking crew with Kopech and Hendriks to go with Kimbrel.

Good luck scoring on the White Sox any day the top 3 aren't on the mound.

Really liked Madrigal and he'll hit 300 plus for the next decade but the Sox just basically forced teams into 7 inning games with this move, and that doesn't even account for Kopech. Crotchet and Bummer have had some issues this year but both can be unhittable at times too. This gives them some flexibility and it wouldn't shock me if Kopech is placed into the starting rotation sooner rather than later.

 

[Southside Sully]

Madrigal will hurt, but his Slugging blows, his base running was suspect and same with this glove.. Have to give up a piece to win, and its him. Sox have team option for Hernandez next year, who has 18 homers this season, 2 gold gloves. This is what happens when you have a winning franchise, who still has many more bullets in the chamber for future trades if need be too. LFG boys!

 

[BobbyMac]

Good move. Kimbrel's not a rental and you have lots of control with Hendriks that you could move him for great value down the line.

 

[Crazy Balki]

Madrigal will hurt, but his Slugging blows, his base running was suspect and same with this glove.. Have to give up a piece to win, and its him. Sox have team option for Hernandez next year, who has 18 homers this season, 2 gold gloves. This is what happens when you have a winning franchise, who still has many more bullets in the chamber for future trades if need be too. LFG boys!

Yep. It's always hard to part ways with homegrown talent, especially when he seemed to fit really nicely in the lineup with a bunch of big hitters.

But his injury history was becoming problematic, and there's no guarantee his defense gets to where we expected it to be. And his suspect base running does kind of mitigate what he does best. He really can't afford to be less than good at any of those things without any power behind his bat.

 

[Southside Sully]

Yep. It's always hard to part ways with homegrown talent, especially when he seemed to fit really nicely in the lineup with a bunch of big hitters.

But his injury history was becoming problematic, and there's no guarantee his defense gets to where we expected it to be. And his suspect base running does kind of mitigate what he does best. He really can't afford to be less than good at any of those things without any power behind his bat.

Exactly. It sucks, but this team can not wait on his injury and the rest over the next couple years. If Cesar hits, he is here next year, or Sox could do something with Yo and Burger for 2b and 3b perhaps. Also look to trade or free agency as Escobar could be a nice 1-2 year fix too

 

[Rogue219]

What a deadline this front office had. Absolutely outstanding. They go on to take 2/3 from their closest division rival to start things off.

Really pulling for this squad to get it done in October. It's going to be tough for them but they have the pieces in place and are getting healthy in time for the playoffs, which they will be in.

 

[BobbyMac]

Eloy's en fuego.

4 HR's and 10 RBI's in the last 11 innings.

That first home run tonight looked like it hit off the second story Delta Sky Box in straight away center.

 

[Irishize]

Eloy's en fuego.

4 HR's and 10 RBI's in the last 11 innings.

That first home run tonight looked like it hit off the second story Delta Sky Box in straight away center.

No doubt. I never realized how big he was until Sunday night vs the Cubs. Dude is a giant. Weren’t Eloy & Cease both Cubs farmhands?

 

[Rogue219]

No doubt. I never realized how big he was until Sunday night vs the Cubs. Dude is a giant. Weren’t Eloy & Cease both Cubs farmhands?

Yes. They came over in the trade for Jose Quintana. CWS also received Moncada and Kopech from Boston for Chris Sale. They cashed in on two starters when starting pitching was at a premium and it is likely going to be the core of their rebuild when all is said and done. Cease just needs to trust his stuff more because it's awesome. He needn't putz around and walk guys. He has the stuff to be dominant. It's coming.

When this team homers, they win. Ball go far, team go far. They will win the Central and it is now a race to get the best record in the AL for home field. They have a bullpen that is scary beyond belief, very solid starting pitching and a nice group of diversified bench players that can play around at different positions.

I think the Twins and Tigers can catch up faster than most think, but this team has arrived. Their time is now. The trade for Hernandez is going to be one of the best moves they've made during the course of all of this rebuilding. He can hit for power and is a slick glove at second. They need that defense.

 

[Wild Bill]

They're slightly better than a .500 team on the road so home field will be relatively important.

Bummer has looked a lot better the last handful of games he's pitched. He gets lost in the mix of bullpen guys but he's tough to hit when he's on and has one of the best sliders in the majors.

Cease looked good his last two starts and agree he could be dominant - just look at his K/9 stat line.

This stretch of games coming up, Yankees, A's, Rays, and Blue Jays, will be interesting.

 

[Southside Sully]

Bummer has been unhittable since he has been back. In 7 2/3 he has 4 hits, 10Ks 4 BBs.. but in the last 5 appearances, he has 1 hit, 7ks 1BB. Once Grandal gets back, and we have everyone else hopefully healthy, it will be the first time we have had the true line up. It is a scary thought what this team can do. Eloy is just now getting his major league timing back after a week and is killing the ball. It wouldn't be hard to imagine Robert is same in about 10 days or so. Hernandez has been a great pick up. He is flashing leather, and putting some mustard behind the ball at the plate. His is 278/409/444 since joining the club with 2 homers, 10 hits, 8 BBs, 7 Runs in 10 games so far.

 

[Rogue219]

Win 50 at home, .500 on the road, you're a 90 win team. It will be tight. Right now CHI, HOU and TB all project to about 95 wins. They need to keep pounding their division (they're .500 vs CLE and KC which is just baseball being baseball) and winning at home. The rest takes care of itself.

Tony LaRussa is going to win AL Manager of the Year. With the injuries and everything else it is inevitable. He's grown on me a bit this last month and I think he'll know how to leverage this bullpen.

They made all these moves and ultimately only gave up Nick Madrigal. Huge kudos to that front office. Their plan is coming to fruition. Wish the damn Pirates ran themselves like this.

 

[BobbyMac]

Did you guys see the graph last night about teams whose pitchers have thrown individual pitches of 95+ this season? I don't remember the teams at 2-5 but they were anywhere between 3100-3400 total pitches of 95+

The White Sox are at 4750.

I'm gonna start selling Gas City Sox gear on Ebay.

 

[Southside Sully]

The thing about this team is their pitching. Bullpen is now stacked, and Starters have been doing their job all season.. Get to the postseason, then small ball comes around.

 

[Rogue219]

The thing about this team is their pitching. Bullpen is now stacked, and Starters have been doing their job all season.. Get to the postseason, then small ball comes around.

Beg pardon, but what?

Keuchel going to be on the playoff roster? Right now, I'd say no. Take the extra position player.

 

[Wild Bill]

Beg pardon, but what?

Keuchel going to be on the playoff roster? Right now, I'd say no. Take the extra position player.

Maybe. Still a long way to go before that question can be answered, imo. Are they going to make it ot October without an injury to the starting five. Rodon is injury prone, Gio and Cease have been up and down all year. They're currently pitching better than Keuchel but who the hell knows if that will remain true as we get closer to October.

He's the highest paid pitcher with the most experience. It'll be a tough decision to make that move. If he's left off of the roster, I think that would allow them to keep both Hamilton and Goodwin which is intriguing. Hamilton's speed and defense are valuable and Goodwin has swung the bat far better than anyone aniticpated. This all assumes that Engel, Robert and Eloy stay healthy as well. If anyone gets hurt again, both of those guys stay and I'm not sure we have another position player that's worth keeping on at the expense of Keuchel's arm/experience.

 

[Rogue219]

Maybe. Still a long way to go before that question can be answered, imo. Are they going to make it ot October without an injury to the starting five. Rodon is injury prone, Gio and Cease have been up and down all year. They're currently pitching better than Keuchel but who the hell knows if that will remain true as we get closer to October.

He's the highest paid pitcher with the most experience. It'll be a tough decision to make that move. If he's left off of the roster, I think that would allow them to keep both Hamilton and Goodwin which is intriguing. Hamilton's speed and defense are valuable and Goodwin has swung the bat far better than anyone aniticpated. This all assumes that Engel, Robert and Eloy stay healthy as well. If anyone gets hurt again, both of those guys stay and I'm not sure we have another position player that's worth keeping on at the expense of Keuchel's arm/experience.

Keichel has a 0.3 WAR right now. That's not much higher than Lopez or Stiever, who is in AAA.

I think at best he's in the bullpen but not starting games if he stays in current form. Lynn, Rodon, Giolito, Cease are your four starters.

My goodness this bullpen is just crazy stacked. And it will be leveraged by a master October bullpen leveraging manager once they get to the playoffs.

 

[Wild Bill]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id...e-sox-place-carlos-rodon-il-left-arm-soreness

right on cue.

 

[Rogue219]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...t-arm-soreness

right on cue.

If it is retroactive, no big deal. I think it doesn't bode well for him come winter when he's looking for a new deal from Chicago or anyone else. At this point, be cautious so he's ready for October. If Rodon and his agent are looking for anything more than a 2 year deal, they may have trouble finding a taker there.

They have Lopez and it sounds like they don't want to stretch Kopech out, which is interesting considering that the rest of their regular season is just about meaningless, so why not start him and see what is there? They're really insisting on just leaving him as a one inning setup guy?

Calling up Matt Foster is interesting. He's bad.

 

[Southside Sully]

What a great week of the national spotlight for this team, specifically TA and Eloy.. From Sunday Night, Monday Night homerun parade on ESPN, to last nights Homer filled Field of Dreams walk off, you have to imagine Southsiders gaining some new fans. What an ending. MLB has to be loving what they have gotten this week too.

 

[Rogue219]

I know it was only one game, but boy, did Miguel Cairo look like a good manager. Maybe he's the next man up once Tony is gone.

 

[Southside Sully]

I know it was only one game, but boy, did Miguel Cairo look like a good manager. Maybe he's the next man up once Tony is gone.

I think its him or Joe McEwing honestly.

 

[Rogue219]

I think its him or Joe McEwing honestly.

Google says he and Cairo are the same age.

When they reshuffled their staff, Cairo was hired as bench coach and McEwing stayed as third base coach. Might not mean anything per long term planning, but either or both could get offers from other clubs too.

Anyway, I liked what Cairo was doing last night. Getting Kopech out before he killed that umpire was super smart.

 

[BobbyMac]

Google says he and Cairo are the same age.

When they reshuffled their staff, Cairo was hired as bench coach and McEwing stayed as third base coach. Might not mean anything per long term planning, but either or both could get offers from other clubs too.

Anyway, I liked what Cairo was doing last night. Getting Kopech out before he killed that umpire was super smart.

Dude's B & S's were BS. Worst I've seen maybe ever.

 

[Rogue219]

Dude's B & S's were BS. Worst I've seen maybe ever.

Nobody is worse than Angel Hernandez. That guy in Iowa was pretty bad, though.

 

[Rogue219]

Tony LaRussa really dressed down his catcher last night in the dugout for all the cameras to see. The guy is about to turn 28 and this is really his first cup of coffee in the Majors. Lance Lynn shouldered the blame in the post game presser.

This team definitely needs a back up catcher on their squad for next year. Grandal being out really exposed that.

Love Zack Collins' plate discipline but his game hasn't really evolved apart from that.

 

[Southside Sully]

Tony LaRussa really dressed down his catcher last night in the dugout for all the cameras to see. The guy is about to turn 28 and this is really his first cup of coffee in the Majors. Lance Lynn shouldered the blame in the post game presser.

This team definitely needs a back up catcher on their squad for next year. Grandal being out really exposed that.

Love Zack Collins' plate discipline but his game hasn't really evolved apart from that.

Zavala will be on the playoff roster over Collins...Besides a couple blunders last night, he is by far the best defensive catcher in the entire organization

 

[Rogue219]

Zavala will be on the playoff roster over Collins...Besides a couple blunders last night, he is by far the best defensive catcher in the entire organization

Not saying a lot. I think he's a pretty good framer based on what I've seen of him but 7 passed balls in 26 games? That's not good on top of 6 PB in 27 games in AAA this season as well. Collins is not a good framer at all.

Something for them to consider this winter. Go back to the Cubs for Wilson Contreras maybe.

 

[Southside Sully]

Not saying a lot. I think he's a pretty good framer based on what I've seen of him but 7 passed balls in 26 games? That's not good on top of 6 PB in 27 games in AAA this season as well. Collins is not a good framer at all.

Something for them to consider this winter. Go back to the Cubs for Wilson Contreras maybe.

Catching has been their achilles heal since #12 left, and his arm stunk, but he was a good catcher, and hitter.